- Thread starter
- #21
Yeah, I love me some blackberry!!! such a heavy hitter and I love the Hashy taste to it!!
Icemud's Organic SCROG! Grow 3.0
- Thread starter Icemud
- Start date
Yeah, I love me some blackberry!!! such a heavy hitter and I love the Hashy taste to it!!
- Thread starter
- #22
Well I can't be happier today!!! I am the proud new parent of 6 baby girls!!!!
Here they are in there full beauty, so innocent and sweet...they have no clue they will grow up to be sticky stinky adults very soon...
And here are the ladies of the hour!!
Silverback OG
Blackberry Kush
Holy Grail OG
Platinum Bubba
Sour Bubble
Here they are in there full beauty, so innocent and sweet...they have no clue they will grow up to be sticky stinky adults very soon...
And here are the ladies of the hour!!
Silverback OG
Blackberry Kush
Holy Grail OG
Platinum Bubba
Sour Bubble
QueenTokelove
New Member
Is it a good strain for a beginner? What kind of high is it? Trying to make a list of some good strains so I can make mothers of them. Is it easy to clone? With all these questions, you know I am in.
- Thread starter
- #24
Hey Queentokelove!!! Ive never actually grown blackberry before so I can't comment on the growing aspect. As far as the high, from what I can remember last time I smoked it....very very heavy!!! I remember it being one that you save for a night time smoke because of its heavy indica/couchlock/soul sucking....feeling...lol...The taste I can't really remember much, but I remember it tasting very "hashy", with a very very faint blackberry type flavor...
The reason I chose blackberry is because it is a very heavy indica, and browsing around the testing site budgenius, it frequently ranges above 18% THC... I used budgenius to help me see the "potential" and "averages" of the strains and there cannabinoid amounts and so I was able to see which strains of my choices were better for that heavy hitting high that I like.
Cloning is actually very easy....all you really need is some sharp scissors, distilled water, cloning solution, and some peat plugs with a humidity dome....(I could elaborate if you would like, wasn't sure if you were asking for instructions or just a general answer
) I've taken clones of both of my grows, however, only having 1 growing tent, I let them die because I had nowhere to veg them.... I know...sad face for sure...
The clones for this grow were from a local genetics lab/facility that keeps some killer mother strains. This will be the 3rd time that I have run there clones and so far so good..the genetics are true to what they say...at least plant traits, smell, taste lead me to believe they are true cuts...
OF the strains that I have grown....
Holy Grail OG was a very nice plant/strain to grow.... very very hearty in veg, exploding with tight internodes, branching like crazy, and overall I pulled on average 4oz per plant.... I would definitely recommend if you can find the clones...there hard to come by I hear...unless your in southern cali...I could share my source...
My very first grow I had grown some blue dragon, which through veg was also a very fast growing, bushy and hearty plant.... it smells great, purples out very quickly, and also yields really nice... One of my 2 hermied on me in late flower, but I'm not sure if it was genetic, or grower mistake...probably the latter since it was my first grow...
In general, the OG kushes that I have run (university hills og and TrueOG/OG101) have been pretty intermediate plants to grow... they seem to be slow starters from clone, and are a little tempermental to ph (more so than my others)....and for yield, there OK... not heavy but not weak... But very potent, fragrent and have been very easy to trim and manicure... I would say the OG's are intermediate grow level...
- Thread starter
- #25
Hey everyone...wow, I've been reading up on this high Brix thing, and its so damn interesting, but so involved it's making my head spin...or maybe its the Holy Grail OG from last grow...or the combo...lol anyways...
I decided to order myself a refractometer. For those that don't know what it is, its a pretty simple concept... Its a tube with a eyepiece on one end, like a microscope, and on the other end of the tube is a prism.. You can take any kind of plant, you want to generally take from the same place on the plant if testing multiple plants, or repeat testing weekly, or even squeeze fruit or veggies onto it. It only take a few drops. You point the tube at a lightsource, and the sugar in the juice or sucrose bends the light onto a chart/graph inside the eyepiece and shadows part of the graph. Depending on how much sugar/sucrose is in the juice, the light will bend differently, which shows you the Brix of the juice/plant/veggie...
It is very involved, and I am just starting to indulge into it so bare with me on this, but I will try to explain what I learn along the way, so anyone who is interested can also learn.
To break it down, Brix is the level of sugars in plants. According to what I read, a tomato, or any veggie really, 50 years ago had a much higher nutrional value than it does today. What this essentially means for us, is that to get the same amount of nutrients from a tomato today, we would have to eat many more than just 1 tomato. And this goes for all produce...and from what I have been reading, just because a food is organic, may mean it is healthier because of lack of pesticides however it doesn't necessarily mean that it has a higher brix level than a non organic tomato..
I will get into weed in a bit, but with food it is much easier to explain, mostly because there is much more information available on the net relating it to brix. So how did our produce get so poor... well it all has to do with mineralizing your soil... and with the proper amounts of minerals with the right ratio's to each other, so it creates a working cycle. What we have been doing in the produce market is stripping the soil of these minerals and not adding them back in. With organics put it this way, if you feed a cow poor quality food, even if its a healthy cow, the milk will be of poor quality, its manure and urine would be of poor quality (lack of minerals) therefore when you take that manure/mix it with the poor quality hay and other composting materials of poor quality...what do you get... its a pretty easy guess... Poor quality compost... and the cycle continues on and on...What this also leads to is farmers thinking, I need to correct the problem with my plants, there sick, whats wrong, lets dump on more salt fertalizers, pesticides and other "corrections" when almost all of this can be avoided by re mineralizing your soil and raising your brix level. Studies have found that plants with a Brix higher than 12, give off an electromagnetic frequency that repels pests and insects. Higher Brix plants also have more nutricional value, meaning that they are healthier, and have no need for additional fertalizers to be added. Now with the above being the typical reponse, lets dump more on to correct the problem (or lets add too much fertalizer for the cycle, is also included), this is leaving a very salt heavy soil, which makes for a very very unfriendly place for a good soil microbiology. The goal is to have available, the right amount of nutrients from the get go to sustain the plants life and keep within your ratio's. For instance...If you have way to much N in your soil, too much for the plants to use, this become waste/salts that accumulate in your soil. When these salt levels build up past a certain level, your water transport to your roots will shut off and your plants will dehydrate. You want to have just enough N in your soil to feed the plant, but not burn out the plant by providing too much, burning out the microbes that work hard to convert this. You want to create a cycle so the microbes have plenty of fuel (calcium and phosporus), which breaks down the rock/soil for the plants, which in turn feed the plant, and then the plant excretes sugars and other goodies to the microbes, so that they can energize and break down more rock.. and with high brix growing, you need a lot of calcium to power this system...calcium being the gas to your soil engine
Now all the chemistry to this I am still very very new at, and not really well read, so If you want to read more and share, I definitely would be interested to know...but here is how to correct weak soil..
So with re-mineralization, what we essentially are doing is taking rock (gypsum, limestone and others...crushing them up and grinding them up into tiny flecks, which then the microbes can eat, which releases minerals and energy for the plant to uptake..along with other things... How this process in nature would work, is a rock would fall into a lake/river whatever, and over time, with debris and water rushing over it, eventually the rock starts to dissolve and break down, which the particles are carried downstream and deposited into sandbeds and such...which over this long long process creates the same thing.. but now with modern technology we are able to add these important natural rocks and minerals back to the soil..which in turn helps increase the nutritional value of the soil for plants, which in turn helps grow healthier, more nutritious plants
Now its not just as easy as throwing some crushed rock into your soil.. wouldn't that be nice.. now this part I still am learning, and there is a ton of chemistry, ratios and math involved, so again, bare with me as I will try to explain what I have learned...
Now many of us usually focus on the Macro nutrients N-P-K which is important, and the micro nutrients, which are also very important, but in growing for higher Brix, Calcium and Magnisium play a big role, much larger than many may think.. I was reading a site by a company that actually will measure your soil, check the ratio's, and recommend and even make a amendment to correct your soil for higher brix, and there is a ton of information on there website...AGLabs is the company and if your interested in undertanding high brix growing, I would suggest taking a look at there site.
Now this chart was taken off of there website, but it make's for great example for what I'm explaining...
How much calcium and magnesium is in your soil... this is what the pro's recommend
Now this is in Pounds per Acre, but you can get the idea's of how important calcium is in reference to the typical NPK that we are used to chiming in on...
Nitrate Nitrogen 30-60# / acre
Ammonial Nitrogen 30-60# / acre
Phosphorus 150-200# / acre
Potassium 50-100# / acre
Calcium 2000-4000# / acre
Magnesium 275-600# / acre
Now why do you want a lot of Microbe energy in the soil (calcium)... because the goal of the high brix growing is to issue frequent foliar sprays. Leaf's uptake nutrients and minerals about 10x faster than roots do, and requires far less energy for transport. By foliar feeding with the right things, you are Supercharging the plants system, therefore using more "gas"(calcium) to power the microbes, and the "spark" being the sugars that the roots excrete as well as molasses and other carbo's, and the oxygen which is in the soil... Just think like a car engine...
Now if one of these sytems lags with the supercharger in place (the plant and roots being the engine), the engine is going to misfire and all sorts of problems can arrise...Same with Plants... Now lets say you add racing fuel to a car without a supercharger and has been built for performance.... the car will not perform well at all, just like a plant... just adding "racing fuel" (nutrients) to your soil, will not essentially make the plant work better. All of the systems have to be tuned, for record times in a car...same with brix growing...
Now another problem is if you don't have enough calcium in the soil...calcium being very essential to plants, humans and really anything living, you can sort of call it the building block to life. This is what builds cell walls but if you don't have enough calcium in the soil, your microbes will "eat" all of it and leave none left for the plant, which essentially will create a poor crop.
Phosphates are also very important and where many people get it wrong is they think, less phosphorus, more potassium, which is not the case. You actually want about a 2:1 ratio phosphorus to potassium, where most people go the opposite, and many nutrient companies do as well. Phosphates is also vital to high brix growing because it acts as the transport of sugars, minerals and nutrients to all area's of the plant. Think of the phosphates like a delivery guy, taking the packages (minerals, nutrients, sugars..) to the right houses, and then back to the base (roots/soil) to pick up more..phosphates are what transport these important goodies within your plant (higher brix), as well as they also help aid in using sunlight within the plant... Phosphates are your friend...
Well that is about the best I understand it at the moment, and will get much more involved as I learn...feel free to correct me if I'm wrong (with proof, so I can read up ) or add to "our" knowledge base....
Thanks everyone for tuning in...
I decided to order myself a refractometer. For those that don't know what it is, its a pretty simple concept... Its a tube with a eyepiece on one end, like a microscope, and on the other end of the tube is a prism.. You can take any kind of plant, you want to generally take from the same place on the plant if testing multiple plants, or repeat testing weekly, or even squeeze fruit or veggies onto it. It only take a few drops. You point the tube at a lightsource, and the sugar in the juice or sucrose bends the light onto a chart/graph inside the eyepiece and shadows part of the graph. Depending on how much sugar/sucrose is in the juice, the light will bend differently, which shows you the Brix of the juice/plant/veggie...
It is very involved, and I am just starting to indulge into it so bare with me on this, but I will try to explain what I learn along the way, so anyone who is interested can also learn.
To break it down, Brix is the level of sugars in plants. According to what I read, a tomato, or any veggie really, 50 years ago had a much higher nutrional value than it does today. What this essentially means for us, is that to get the same amount of nutrients from a tomato today, we would have to eat many more than just 1 tomato. And this goes for all produce...and from what I have been reading, just because a food is organic, may mean it is healthier because of lack of pesticides however it doesn't necessarily mean that it has a higher brix level than a non organic tomato..
I will get into weed in a bit, but with food it is much easier to explain, mostly because there is much more information available on the net relating it to brix. So how did our produce get so poor... well it all has to do with mineralizing your soil... and with the proper amounts of minerals with the right ratio's to each other, so it creates a working cycle. What we have been doing in the produce market is stripping the soil of these minerals and not adding them back in. With organics put it this way, if you feed a cow poor quality food, even if its a healthy cow, the milk will be of poor quality, its manure and urine would be of poor quality (lack of minerals) therefore when you take that manure/mix it with the poor quality hay and other composting materials of poor quality...what do you get... its a pretty easy guess... Poor quality compost... and the cycle continues on and on...What this also leads to is farmers thinking, I need to correct the problem with my plants, there sick, whats wrong, lets dump on more salt fertalizers, pesticides and other "corrections" when almost all of this can be avoided by re mineralizing your soil and raising your brix level. Studies have found that plants with a Brix higher than 12, give off an electromagnetic frequency that repels pests and insects. Higher Brix plants also have more nutricional value, meaning that they are healthier, and have no need for additional fertalizers to be added. Now with the above being the typical reponse, lets dump more on to correct the problem (or lets add too much fertalizer for the cycle, is also included), this is leaving a very salt heavy soil, which makes for a very very unfriendly place for a good soil microbiology. The goal is to have available, the right amount of nutrients from the get go to sustain the plants life and keep within your ratio's. For instance...If you have way to much N in your soil, too much for the plants to use, this become waste/salts that accumulate in your soil. When these salt levels build up past a certain level, your water transport to your roots will shut off and your plants will dehydrate. You want to have just enough N in your soil to feed the plant, but not burn out the plant by providing too much, burning out the microbes that work hard to convert this. You want to create a cycle so the microbes have plenty of fuel (calcium and phosporus), which breaks down the rock/soil for the plants, which in turn feed the plant, and then the plant excretes sugars and other goodies to the microbes, so that they can energize and break down more rock.. and with high brix growing, you need a lot of calcium to power this system...calcium being the gas to your soil engine
Now all the chemistry to this I am still very very new at, and not really well read, so If you want to read more and share, I definitely would be interested to know...but here is how to correct weak soil..
So with re-mineralization, what we essentially are doing is taking rock (gypsum, limestone and others...crushing them up and grinding them up into tiny flecks, which then the microbes can eat, which releases minerals and energy for the plant to uptake..along with other things... How this process in nature would work, is a rock would fall into a lake/river whatever, and over time, with debris and water rushing over it, eventually the rock starts to dissolve and break down, which the particles are carried downstream and deposited into sandbeds and such...which over this long long process creates the same thing.. but now with modern technology we are able to add these important natural rocks and minerals back to the soil..which in turn helps increase the nutritional value of the soil for plants, which in turn helps grow healthier, more nutritious plants
Now its not just as easy as throwing some crushed rock into your soil.. wouldn't that be nice.. now this part I still am learning, and there is a ton of chemistry, ratios and math involved, so again, bare with me as I will try to explain what I have learned...
Now many of us usually focus on the Macro nutrients N-P-K which is important, and the micro nutrients, which are also very important, but in growing for higher Brix, Calcium and Magnisium play a big role, much larger than many may think.. I was reading a site by a company that actually will measure your soil, check the ratio's, and recommend and even make a amendment to correct your soil for higher brix, and there is a ton of information on there website...AGLabs is the company and if your interested in undertanding high brix growing, I would suggest taking a look at there site.
Now this chart was taken off of there website, but it make's for great example for what I'm explaining...
How much calcium and magnesium is in your soil... this is what the pro's recommend
Now this is in Pounds per Acre, but you can get the idea's of how important calcium is in reference to the typical NPK that we are used to chiming in on...
Nitrate Nitrogen 30-60# / acre
Ammonial Nitrogen 30-60# / acre
Phosphorus 150-200# / acre
Potassium 50-100# / acre
Calcium 2000-4000# / acre
Magnesium 275-600# / acre
Now why do you want a lot of Microbe energy in the soil (calcium)... because the goal of the high brix growing is to issue frequent foliar sprays. Leaf's uptake nutrients and minerals about 10x faster than roots do, and requires far less energy for transport. By foliar feeding with the right things, you are Supercharging the plants system, therefore using more "gas"(calcium) to power the microbes, and the "spark" being the sugars that the roots excrete as well as molasses and other carbo's, and the oxygen which is in the soil... Just think like a car engine...
Now if one of these sytems lags with the supercharger in place (the plant and roots being the engine), the engine is going to misfire and all sorts of problems can arrise...Same with Plants... Now lets say you add racing fuel to a car without a supercharger and has been built for performance.... the car will not perform well at all, just like a plant... just adding "racing fuel" (nutrients) to your soil, will not essentially make the plant work better. All of the systems have to be tuned, for record times in a car...same with brix growing...
Now another problem is if you don't have enough calcium in the soil...calcium being very essential to plants, humans and really anything living, you can sort of call it the building block to life. This is what builds cell walls but if you don't have enough calcium in the soil, your microbes will "eat" all of it and leave none left for the plant, which essentially will create a poor crop.
Phosphates are also very important and where many people get it wrong is they think, less phosphorus, more potassium, which is not the case. You actually want about a 2:1 ratio phosphorus to potassium, where most people go the opposite, and many nutrient companies do as well. Phosphates is also vital to high brix growing because it acts as the transport of sugars, minerals and nutrients to all area's of the plant. Think of the phosphates like a delivery guy, taking the packages (minerals, nutrients, sugars..) to the right houses, and then back to the base (roots/soil) to pick up more..phosphates are what transport these important goodies within your plant (higher brix), as well as they also help aid in using sunlight within the plant... Phosphates are your friend...
Well that is about the best I understand it at the moment, and will get much more involved as I learn...feel free to correct me if I'm wrong (with proof, so I can read up
) or add to "our" knowledge base....Thanks everyone for tuning in...
OG13
New Member
Nice High Brix synopsis there Icemud. I'll be tagging along as well. I can already see it working on my vegetable garden plants. Will be trying some outdoor plants this year all High Brix.
4twenty4all
New Member
Icemud- I'm gonna stop in and watch your new grow if you don't mind ;-) Looking good, I agree with Doc about the bloom ferts. I wouldn't mind seeing you grow Sour Bubble (bubblegum bx3) or Fu@king Incredible, I'm sure you could make them look awesome. Good thoughts for you my friend.
- Thread starter
- #28
Hey Everyone...wow, I have been busy reading/researching and discovering more and more about high brix growing....
One of the first steps to helping grow high brix plants is to have a soil analysis done which will give you a blueprint of what you are working with, and where to make changes that will benefit this living system. I am not rich, so I am going to see if I can find a cheep testing facility in the area, but may have to skip the soil test this time since I have already potted my soil. I was looking around for soil tests/analysis's done on FFOF and Happy Frog but couldn't find any...If anyone has results, and would love to share, I would be all ears/and eyes..
On this grow, since High Brix is also very environmentally friendly, and I am already in the organic realm, what else can I do to reduce cost and carbon footprint.... well, I have read much about the Gas Lantern Routine, and I am going to give it a shot on this round.... I have read that it works with great success, and results actually surpass 18-6 lighting schedules, with improved plant budding structure (faster growing, larger hormone build up, more rest time for the plants/less stress, more budsites in flowering). Also this would be saving me 6+ hours of electricity per day, which will equal quite a bit of saving off of my electric bill, which reduces my carbon footprint as well What this method is is:
Instead of giving your plants 18 hours of light, which is very unnatural and causes stress on some strains, you are giving the plants only 12 hours of light for veg. Now many of you would say...wait a minute!!! that will cause them to flower, which you are correct.... Now the difference with the gas lamp routine is that plants need 12 hours of un-interrupted darkness to bloom/flower. With the gas lamp routine, you will be giving 12 hours of light on, 5.5hours of dark, 1 hour of light, and 5.5 hours of dark.... by giving the plants the 1 hour of light during the dark period, you are tricking the plants into thinking its daytime again, which will inturrupt them from flowering. I look forward to some pretty promising results and overall, if I can get away with this, 6 hours per day savings of 400/1000w energy, x50 days of veg... Thats around 22$ savings for veg @ 400w during the 50 day cycle, and around $57$ savings @1000w for the 50 day veg cycle.... Not to mention with the gas lamp routine, in flower the lights run at 10 hours on, 14 hours off, and begin a decrease in the light period about 4-6 weeks into flower, for each 2 weeks, decreased by 1/2 an hour.) So again, in flower big $$ savings...
estimated at .19$ per kwh
@400w, 80 day flowering cycle, saving 2 hrs per day.. = 12.16$ savings over 12/12
@1000w, 80 day flowering cycle, saving 2 hrs per day= $30.40 in savings over 12/12
overall savings at 400w for the grow= $34 savings per cycle with gas lamp routine..est..
overall saving at 1000w for the grow= $87 saving per cycle with gas lamp routine...est..
So with the money savings and with the expected healthy growth....why are more people not doing this method??? has anyone done it with worse results that the traditional 18/6, 12/12 lighting???
I have already cut my cost of water by buying a R/O system, and if I can reduce my electricity usage.... that makes for a very happy pocketbook
One of the first steps to helping grow high brix plants is to have a soil analysis done which will give you a blueprint of what you are working with, and where to make changes that will benefit this living system. I am not rich, so I am going to see if I can find a cheep testing facility in the area, but may have to skip the soil test this time since I have already potted my soil. I was looking around for soil tests/analysis's done on FFOF and Happy Frog but couldn't find any...If anyone has results, and would love to share, I would be all ears/and eyes..
On this grow, since High Brix is also very environmentally friendly, and I am already in the organic realm, what else can I do to reduce cost and carbon footprint.... well, I have read much about the Gas Lantern Routine, and I am going to give it a shot on this round.... I have read that it works with great success, and results actually surpass 18-6 lighting schedules, with improved plant budding structure (faster growing, larger hormone build up, more rest time for the plants/less stress, more budsites in flowering). Also this would be saving me 6+ hours of electricity per day, which will equal quite a bit of saving off of my electric bill, which reduces my carbon footprint as well
What this method is is:Instead of giving your plants 18 hours of light, which is very unnatural and causes stress on some strains, you are giving the plants only 12 hours of light for veg. Now many of you would say...wait a minute!!! that will cause them to flower, which you are correct.... Now the difference with the gas lamp routine is that plants need 12 hours of un-interrupted darkness to bloom/flower. With the gas lamp routine, you will be giving 12 hours of light on, 5.5hours of dark, 1 hour of light, and 5.5 hours of dark.... by giving the plants the 1 hour of light during the dark period, you are tricking the plants into thinking its daytime again, which will inturrupt them from flowering. I look forward to some pretty promising results and overall, if I can get away with this, 6 hours per day savings of 400/1000w energy, x50 days of veg... Thats around 22$ savings for veg @ 400w during the 50 day cycle, and around $57$ savings @1000w for the 50 day veg cycle.... Not to mention with the gas lamp routine, in flower the lights run at 10 hours on, 14 hours off, and begin a decrease in the light period about 4-6 weeks into flower, for each 2 weeks, decreased by 1/2 an hour.) So again, in flower big $$ savings...
estimated at .19$ per kwh
@400w, 80 day flowering cycle, saving 2 hrs per day.. = 12.16$ savings over 12/12
@1000w, 80 day flowering cycle, saving 2 hrs per day= $30.40 in savings over 12/12
overall savings at 400w for the grow= $34 savings per cycle with gas lamp routine..est..
overall saving at 1000w for the grow= $87 saving per cycle with gas lamp routine...est..
So with the money savings and with the expected healthy growth....why are more people not doing this method??? has anyone done it with worse results that the traditional 18/6, 12/12 lighting???
I have already cut my cost of water by buying a R/O system, and if I can reduce my electricity usage.... that makes for a very happy pocketbook
Goshawk
New Member
A large portion of the earth receives 18 hours of daylight during the time cannabis would be growing so the 18/6 photo period is actually quite natural. Where I live we get a few minutes less than 16 hours of daylight in June. Since I believe conditions that cause stress during the vegetative phase can set a plant into becoming a hermaphrodite later during the flowering period I would not use the irregular photo period of the gas lamp routine because it may be a recipe for hermies.....
....
....- Thread starter
- #30
Alright, so today, March 24th is officially Day 1 of Veg. I transplanted the girls from there foam cups into there new homes and a few hours later they seem to look happy After much debate on getting my soil tested, I decided that this round, since my soil is already potted, and had been given some water, to help activate the micropopulation, I will just make due with what I have, and next go around, start with a soil test... however I still am going to try to sick to the high brix method of growing as closely as I can...
With that being said, In each pot before the clones and rootball were set in, I carved out a good hole in the center of each pot... with the idea of High brix being calcium, phosphorus and re-mineralization, I genly sprinkled a small amount of greensand, mycos maximum, and epsoma lime into each hole, before placeing the clone in, and covering her up. I know that since my soil has a good amount of organic material in it, the raise in calcium/magnesium along with the trace elements in the greensand shouldn't hurt and actually add to the higher brix levels... Now without the soil test I am going sort of blind on this one, by not knowing what my soil levels are, I kept the sprinkle to about 1/4 of a tablespoon to each plant...
Lighting:
Right now I will be running my 400w Ceramic Metal Halide on a 18/6 schedule for the first week or until I know the newly transplanted clones have started to grow and show a positive response to the new soil. At that point I will initiate the "gas lamp routine" for the rest of the veg cycle...I chose the CMH bulb instead of my Ushio OptiBlue because I am curious how well it does in veg vs my Ushio. With a more full/like sunlight spectrum, a red end that rivals a HPS bulb, and blue that resebles a Eye blue hortilux bulb, i think it offers the best lighting spectrum overall for veg...and possibly even flower. As more foliage develops and the growth takes off, I will be adding my 600w HPS to the cycle, having it come on for half of the day period, as well as 1 hr during the dark period.
Foliar Spraying and Feedings..
I have yet to determine what exact feeding schedule that I will be going with being that my aim is for high brix...so far in my research, over and over again it mentions these following additives for not only foliar, but also for soil feeding...
fish emulsion
seaweed/kelp *bioweed by general organics
enzymes *hygrozyme or like products..
carbohydrates such as molasses, sugars or liquid carboload..
humic acids...I have fulvic acid for foliar, and humic acid for soil
soft rock phosphate...*earthjuice bloom..bioroot by general organics
microbes.... compost teas...
now the goal is not to overdo the nutrients...from what I have been reading, you want to use very little N, a happy micropopulation includes nitrogen fixing bacteria that grab nitrogen from the air, and convert it to usable form for the plants, so adding a lot of nitrogen will cause a decrease in overall soil health... from what I was reading you want a ratio of about 1-2-1 if you are adding nutrients, the most important being the phosphorus. I also was reading that you want a carbon to nitrogen ratio of around 12-20:1 so again you can see that the nitrogen, is not as important as many are led to believe. In addition a good ratio for your calcium to magnesium is at a 7:1 to 20:1 ratio...
I also was reading that the humidity and your feedings corralate quite hand in hand... in my reading it stated that when you have high humidity and high tempetures, your nutrient need by the soil will be higher....however, when you have Low humidity and high temperatures, if you add the same amount of nutrients, you have a great chance of burning your plants..so less concentrated nutrients when low humidity...
Another useful tip that I picked up in my research, is at peak crop production, you actually want a more dry soil than a moist soil.. The reasoning behind this is: soil microbiology needs oxygen as part of the process to break down rock/organic materials to usable nutrients for the plant to uptake... Now at peak production, nutrient need is high, and with a soggy soil, less oxygen is available for the microheards to use, therefor slowing down your nutrient availability.... so during heavy production time...lay off the waterings until the soil drys out quite a bit...
Well thats all the updates on the high brix method and my journal for now...
Here are the photos of the girls in there beautiful new homes...
Enjoy!!!
Full views
Holy Grail OG
Sour Bubble
Blackberry Kush
Silverback OG
Platinum Bubba's
After much debate on getting my soil tested, I decided that this round, since my soil is already potted, and had been given some water, to help activate the micropopulation, I will just make due with what I have, and next go around, start with a soil test... however I still am going to try to sick to the high brix method of growing as closely as I can...With that being said, In each pot before the clones and rootball were set in, I carved out a good hole in the center of each pot... with the idea of High brix being calcium, phosphorus and re-mineralization, I genly sprinkled a small amount of greensand, mycos maximum, and epsoma lime into each hole, before placeing the clone in, and covering her up. I know that since my soil has a good amount of organic material in it, the raise in calcium/magnesium along with the trace elements in the greensand shouldn't hurt and actually add to the higher brix levels... Now without the soil test I am going sort of blind on this one, by not knowing what my soil levels are, I kept the sprinkle to about 1/4 of a tablespoon to each plant...
Lighting:
Right now I will be running my 400w Ceramic Metal Halide on a 18/6 schedule for the first week or until I know the newly transplanted clones have started to grow and show a positive response to the new soil. At that point I will initiate the "gas lamp routine" for the rest of the veg cycle...I chose the CMH bulb instead of my Ushio OptiBlue because I am curious how well it does in veg vs my Ushio. With a more full/like sunlight spectrum, a red end that rivals a HPS bulb, and blue that resebles a Eye blue hortilux bulb, i think it offers the best lighting spectrum overall for veg...and possibly even flower. As more foliage develops and the growth takes off, I will be adding my 600w HPS to the cycle, having it come on for half of the day period, as well as 1 hr during the dark period.
Foliar Spraying and Feedings..
I have yet to determine what exact feeding schedule that I will be going with being that my aim is for high brix...so far in my research, over and over again it mentions these following additives for not only foliar, but also for soil feeding...
fish emulsion
seaweed/kelp *bioweed by general organics
enzymes *hygrozyme or like products..
carbohydrates such as molasses, sugars or liquid carboload..
humic acids...I have fulvic acid for foliar, and humic acid for soil
soft rock phosphate...*earthjuice bloom..bioroot by general organics
microbes.... compost teas...
now the goal is not to overdo the nutrients...from what I have been reading, you want to use very little N, a happy micropopulation includes nitrogen fixing bacteria that grab nitrogen from the air, and convert it to usable form for the plants, so adding a lot of nitrogen will cause a decrease in overall soil health... from what I was reading you want a ratio of about 1-2-1 if you are adding nutrients, the most important being the phosphorus. I also was reading that you want a carbon to nitrogen ratio of around 12-20:1 so again you can see that the nitrogen, is not as important as many are led to believe. In addition a good ratio for your calcium to magnesium is at a 7:1 to 20:1 ratio...
I also was reading that the humidity and your feedings corralate quite hand in hand... in my reading it stated that when you have high humidity and high tempetures, your nutrient need by the soil will be higher....however, when you have Low humidity and high temperatures, if you add the same amount of nutrients, you have a great chance of burning your plants..so less concentrated nutrients when low humidity...
Another useful tip that I picked up in my research, is at peak crop production, you actually want a more dry soil than a moist soil.. The reasoning behind this is: soil microbiology needs oxygen as part of the process to break down rock/organic materials to usable nutrients for the plant to uptake... Now at peak production, nutrient need is high, and with a soggy soil, less oxygen is available for the microheards to use, therefor slowing down your nutrient availability.... so during heavy production time...lay off the waterings until the soil drys out quite a bit...
Well thats all the updates on the high brix method and my journal for now...
Here are the photos of the girls in there beautiful new homes...
Enjoy!!!
Full views
Holy Grail OG
Sour Bubble
Blackberry Kush
Silverback OG
Platinum Bubba's
Im in 100 percent!
+reps if i can from your last grow man.
you had some big old buds
+reps if i can from your last grow man.
you had some big old buds
- Thread starter
- #32
A large portion of the earth receives 18 hours of daylight during the time cannabis would be growing so the 18/6 photo period is actually quite natural. Where I live we get a few minutes less than 16 hours of daylight in June. Since I believe conditions that cause stress during the vegetative phase can set a plant into becoming a hermaphrodite later during the flowering period I would not use the irregular photo period of the gas lamp routine because it may be a recipe for hermies.....
I definitely appreciate you pointing that out Goshawk, but I would have to add to your statement, that most of the strains we grow, originated in in the tropical or temperate climate zones on earth.. At the very edges of the temperate zone, nearing the polar region is the only area's that see close to 18hours of sunlight naturally. Most of the area's that our strains originated from, (afghanistan, pakistan, mexico, columbia) are all in the 12-14 hour range for peak daylight hours.... For example, here are some max daylight hours for different part of the USA...which sunlight peaks around June 21st.
Daylight peaks around the world..
Alaska 18hrs of daylight
Washington state 16hrs
California 14 hrs
Afghanistan 12.2 hrs
Columbia 13.24
Pakistan 9.9
So as you can see, most of where cannabis naturally grows, the average Max amount of sunlight is around 14 hours of daylight, which means more than that is actually unnatural and possibly can stress your plants out...now a little about flowering...
Cannabis is a SDP or short day plant. With short day plants, the flowering is not triggered by the amount of light, but by the amount of un-interrupted dark. With a short day plant, 12 hours or more of complete darkness is needed to cause flowering hormones to form. By breaking this cycle up, you inhibit these hormones from causing the plant to stay in veg... So as you can see, the amount of light over 12 hours really doesn't matter much, its the dark that is what control's flowering...
It breaks down into photochrome PR (red) and photochrome Pfr (far red). In the short day plants red light, 660nm begins the synthesis of PR and red light converts this to PFR. Now this conversion of PR to PFR in light is a very fast process but at night, the process reverses and is slow, changing the PFR back to PR... Unless there is more PR than PFR, the plant will remain in veg..
Now by interupting the dark cycle with 1 hr of light, the PR is converted back quickly to PFR, so the plant stays in veg, because there again is more of an abundance of PFR than PR...typically this process as we know it for short day plants takes around 12+ hours of darkness to achieve a full reversion. So by breaking the cycle up, the plant will not flower.
I am still reading to confirm about less stress on the plants, but the info above is the reason that gas lamp routine works...
- Thread starter
- #33
Tonight I gave my ladies there first foliar bath. My temperature has been around 68-70F and humidity around 50% and they have already perked up quite a bit since transplant. I wanted to go very light with the foliar feeding since they are in there young stage, and the purpose of this foliar feeding was not to give them nutrients, but to start building a healthy micro herd on the foliage to get this High brix process started.
My 1st foliar..ingredients..
2 cups of R/O D/I water, ppm 0
<1ml of hygrozyme (literally 2 drops) (enzymes)
1ml of Advanced Nutrients Fulvic Acid: fulvic acid from what I read is better than humic acid for foliar feeding because the molecules are not as large and complex which allows better chelation of minerals and micronutrients.
1ml of Advanced Nutrients Organic B... full B spectrum for assisting with transplant stress
1 drop... <1ml of BioWeed by General Organics (this is a cold pressed seaweed) which includes micronutrients, hormones and other goodies for the plant..
1ml of 2% milk... have been reading about it being an excellent bio-stimulant as well as great to rid off PM..High in calcium as well.
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I will be rotating between 3 different types of foliar feedings throughout the veg cycle..
The above being the first phase of the 3 part foliar feeding...
The 2nd foliar feeding will be composed of compost tea (worm casings, seabird guano, humus, happy frog soil, ocean forest soil)
And the 3rd one will be different depending if I am in veg or bloom...
I still haven't quite done enough research to find out exactly what to use for ratio's and what types of organic nutrients/additives to use for the "nutrient phase" of my 3 part foliar feeding rotation. I have based my ratios right now off of the AGlabs product ratios, there's are synthetic, but I lowered the amounts but kept the ratio the same, being that I am organic...
In veg I will be aiming for a 1.25-3-1 ratio with added Calcium, sugars/complex carbs.
In flowering I will be aiming for a 1-9-.05 ratio or as close to it as I can get while remaining organic. Also will be sugars/complex carbs added.
Like I mentioned before, I still have to do more research in this area to find the perfect organic foliar combination. So far this seems to be the type of approach you want.... cycle of: Carbons/Enzymes/micronutrients, Microbes/trace minerals (tea), Nutrients with sugars...repeat..
My 1st foliar..ingredients..
2 cups of R/O D/I water, ppm 0
<1ml of hygrozyme (literally 2 drops) (enzymes)
1ml of Advanced Nutrients Fulvic Acid: fulvic acid from what I read is better than humic acid for foliar feeding because the molecules are not as large and complex which allows better chelation of minerals and micronutrients.
1ml of Advanced Nutrients Organic B... full B spectrum for assisting with transplant stress
1 drop... <1ml of BioWeed by General Organics (this is a cold pressed seaweed) which includes micronutrients, hormones and other goodies for the plant..
1ml of 2% milk... have been reading about it being an excellent bio-stimulant as well as great to rid off PM..High in calcium as well.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
I will be rotating between 3 different types of foliar feedings throughout the veg cycle..
The above being the first phase of the 3 part foliar feeding...
The 2nd foliar feeding will be composed of compost tea (worm casings, seabird guano, humus, happy frog soil, ocean forest soil)
And the 3rd one will be different depending if I am in veg or bloom...
I still haven't quite done enough research to find out exactly what to use for ratio's and what types of organic nutrients/additives to use for the "nutrient phase" of my 3 part foliar feeding rotation. I have based my ratios right now off of the AGlabs product ratios, there's are synthetic, but I lowered the amounts but kept the ratio the same, being that I am organic...
In veg I will be aiming for a 1.25-3-1 ratio with added Calcium, sugars/complex carbs.
In flowering I will be aiming for a 1-9-.05 ratio or as close to it as I can get while remaining organic. Also will be sugars/complex carbs added.
Like I mentioned before, I still have to do more research in this area to find the perfect organic foliar combination. So far this seems to be the type of approach you want.... cycle of: Carbons/Enzymes/micronutrients, Microbes/trace minerals (tea), Nutrients with sugars...repeat..
Goshawk
New Member
.....with the new schedule Icemud,I hope it works out well for you!.....
....- Thread starter
- #35
Here are some photo's taken about 6 hours apart... before and after the foliar spray... look at how much more alive they ladies look after the foliar spray..
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- Thread starter
- #36
I decided that I would not toy with the lighting and move the girls right into the 12-1 Gas lamp schedule... The more I am reading, the more it seems to be much more beneficial than stressing an un-natural 18 hours of light on these plants...I guess the true test will be in the final product quality, yield, appeal, fragrence and smoke appeal... I cant wait!!!
OG13
New Member
A large portion of the earth receives 18 hours of daylight during the time cannabis would be growing so the 18/6 photo period is actually quite natural. Where I live we get a few minutes less than 16 hours of daylight in June. Since I believe conditions that cause stress during the vegetative phase can set a plant into becoming a hermaphrodite later during the flowering period I would not use the irregular photo period of the gas lamp routine because it may be a recipe for hermies.....
I have to disagree. Most landrace strains (what all the hybrid strains originate from) grow in equatorial regions where the natural day length is around 12 hours. The closer you are to the poles, the longer the day length (also not regions where medical grade pot usually is grown).
I've used GLR since the mid 80's with no problems. Hermies are the result of nonstabilized genetics and strong sativa dominant strains. There is too much myth about "light stress" inducing hermies. People need to realize the real importance is in environmental control (temp and humidity and air flow).
- Thread starter
- #38
I hope it works out well for you!.....
Thanks Goshawk....I'll tell you I am a little nervous about doing it, but with all the favorable reports, and grow journals online pointing out its sucess, and many reporting better growth, more explosive bloom, and best of all $$$$ savings.... I guess its like anything new, when LED's came into the growing market... everyone was like...NO WAY, thats not going to grow good pot!!, but they did... I hope this works and if it does, I will never use 18-6 again... lol.
Thanks goshawk for your presence
- Thread starter
- #39
OG...its comforting to know that you have used the GLR with no problems... I am so supprised that more growers haven't heard about this technique...especially large scale commercial grows...I imagine it could save thousands per cycle for someone running lots of lights.
- Thread starter
- #40
Hey everyone....
I wanted to share something pretty cool that I think a lot of you may find useful. I was looking around on the internet today and came upon a way to make a DIY Spectrometer...
I made a separate post in the DIY section explaining how to make it... Here is the link
DIY Spectrometer - Check what wavelengths your lights give out
Now this is where the fun comes in...
Here are the charts of the bulbs that I have, which show the peak intensities and wavelengths output. Now I have included photo's I shot today, with my DIY spectrometer, and I was amazed how accurate it was to the charts...
I found this an excellent way to see exactly what light quality comes out of what source... Check it out..
Here are some photos of my bulbs...Take a notice at the peaks on the following charts, and then look at the brightest bands on the photo's I took, see how close they are...
Ushio Optiblue 400w MH
The Chart is first, my photo 2nd
Here is the Chart for the 400w Ceramic Metal Halide and a Typical HPS bulb
Now look how the spectrometer picked up the light frequencies..
Ushio OptiRed 600w HPS (running at 400w)
Phillips RetroWhite 400w CMH
I wanted to share something pretty cool that I think a lot of you may find useful. I was looking around on the internet today and came upon a way to make a DIY Spectrometer...
I made a separate post in the DIY section explaining how to make it... Here is the link
DIY Spectrometer - Check what wavelengths your lights give out
Now this is where the fun comes in...
Here are the charts of the bulbs that I have, which show the peak intensities and wavelengths output. Now I have included photo's I shot today, with my DIY spectrometer, and I was amazed how accurate it was to the charts...
I found this an excellent way to see exactly what light quality comes out of what source... Check it out..
Here are some photos of my bulbs...Take a notice at the peaks on the following charts, and then look at the brightest bands on the photo's I took, see how close they are...
Ushio Optiblue 400w MH
The Chart is first, my photo 2nd
Here is the Chart for the 400w Ceramic Metal Halide and a Typical HPS bulb
Now look how the spectrometer picked up the light frequencies..
Ushio OptiRed 600w HPS (running at 400w)
Phillips RetroWhite 400w CMH
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